A European leader in the Balkans recently announced his plans to form a new country if Donald Trump is elected president in 2024.
Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska, made his plans clear in an interview with Serbian television network TV Prva when he said he planned to declare independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina should Trump win the upcoming presidential election.
Republika Srpska is one of the two political entities composing Bosnia and Herzegovina following the 1995 Dayton Accords, which established unstable peace between the ministates following a brutal war that caused more than 100,000 deaths, The Associated Press reported.
Dodik, who has led Republika Srpska since 2006, has challenged the states' unity and has frequently touted his plans for independence.
He announced similar plans ahead of Trump's 2016 campaign which saw the former president triumphant over Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. However, Dodik's plans changed because of lacking support from his colleagues.
"When Donald Trump won in America, I had the intention to declare the independence of Republika Srpska," Dodik said in the TV Prva interview. "Then some around me got scared, and I didn't do it. I have to say that today I regret that I didn't. But if Trump won again, I think I wouldn't hesitate."
Dodik's actions in the past have garnered criticism and legal ramifications, such as sanctions from the U.S. in 2022 after he allegedly violated the Dayton Accords. President Joe Biden's administration accused Dodik of advocating for Bosnian Serb separation for years, with that autonomy being one of the key factors in beginning the war.
Over the summer, the Republika Srpska leader signed a law disregarding decisions made by Bosnia and Herzegovina's constitutional court, according to a report by legal news outlet Jurist. Dodik faced an indictment from the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the action after he refused to annul the law.
Dodik has repeatedly referred to Bosnia as a "failing state," while advocating for his country's independence. If Trump wins the 2024 election, it could give Dodik the confidence to officially declare independence.
Trump has not made a statement regarding Dodik's announcement and has given no indication as to whether he would support the country's independence.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's campaign and offices of the Bosnia and Herzegovina government by email for comment.
Trump, who faces several indictments of his own, is the favored GOP contestant for the 2024 election, according to polls. He leads the GOP primary with 54 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight's national average poll tracker, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis second at 17 percent and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley third with 16 percent.
However, if Trump wins the primary, he still faces a challenging opponent in President Joe Biden, who recently reclaimed his lead over Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup between the two candidates, according to a Morning Consult Poll last week.
However, FiveThirtyEight's most updated polls show Trump leading Biden according to two HarrisX polls taken in late November by 7 percent and 5 percent, whereas Biden leads Trump in a YouGov poll from November 25 to 27 by 2 percent.
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